Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an integrated injection system including an injection device that collects and transmits data regarding the injection event and physical characteristics of the patient to a receiver.
Description of Related Art
In the healthcare community, it is generally accepted that the cost-per-capita must decrease. Notably, as populations age and as countries have less money to spend on healthcare costs, the amount of money available for healthcare expenditures per person will necessarily decrease. Consequently, patients will perform greater numbers of treatments by themselves to eliminate the cost associated with visiting a healthcare professional for simple (e.g., non-diagnostic) procedures. This is already occurring for patients affected by diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, or multiple sclerosis and could become the standard for other treatments including contraceptives, cosmetics, or vaccines in the future. Individuals who perform treatments on themselves have different needs and requirements than patients receiving treatment from a trained professional. Accordingly, the types of medication dispensing apparatuses attractive to un-trained individuals will be different than the types of apparatuses used by trained medical professionals.
Rapidly increasing health care costs require medical providers to reevaluate how medication is provided to patients and how the efficacy of prescribed medication is evaluated. For example, it is necessary to have better control over the supply of and demand for medications. It is also necessary to better manage chronic diseases, since chronic patients account for the largest portion of healthcare costs. Specifically, over-expenditure for chronic patients is common as a result of patients failing to follow prescribed treatments. In addition, there is a need to focus on prevention and early detection of potential health hazards.
Currently, patient adherence to prescribed treatments is generally based on information self-reported to the medical provider by the patient. The patient may keep a journal including information such as when the medication was taken and some diagnostic information such as, in the case of diabetes, glucose level. It is noted that, in each of these instances, the patient has significant responsibility for treatment and, in some cases, diagnosis. Not only must the patient take the prescribed amount of the medication at the correct time, but must also document that the medication was ingested or injected, perform tests (i.e., a blood test for insulin levels), record the results, and, in some instances, interpret the results to determine whether additional medication must be taken. As the number of activities that the patient must perform increases, the possibility for patient non-adherence to provided instructions also increases.
Alternatively, a patient may visit a medical facility at various intervals to have tests performed during the course of a medication treatment regime. Requiring additional visits to medical facilities for diagnostic procedures increases healthcare costs. In addition, patients often view testing and diagnostic costs as less important than treatment and, as a result, are less willing to incur such testing expenses. Therefore, patients will either forego the prescribed testing while still taking the medication or avoid treatment options altogether which require additional testing during the course of the treatment regime.
Therefore, there is a need for an injection device which is capable of extracting information from the patient to provide an indication of the patient's health during the treatment activity. The information should be quickly and automatically made available to a medical professional in order to trigger an ongoing diagnosis and to modify the treatment regime if necessary. The information about patient adherence to prescribed treatments and physical condition should be able to be correlated along with data from other patients to determine when patients are most likely to follow treatment instructions and to better understand reasons why patients fail to follow treatment instructions. The data may also be used to coach the patient on how to better follow the prescribed treatment and, if necessary, modify the treatment options so that patient adherence is further encouraged.